MCBOOKS PRESS, INC. ITHACA, NEW YORK

Published by McBooks Press 2006 Copyright © 2005 by Julian Stockwin

First published in Great Britain in 2005 by Hodder and Stoughton A division of Hodder Headline

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher. Requests for such permissions should be addressed to McBooks Press, Inc., ID Booth Building, 520 North Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850.

Cover painting by Geoff Hunt. Cover and text design: Panda Musgrove.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stockwin, Julian. Tenacious : a Kydd sea adventure / by Julian Stockwin. p. cm.

ISBN: 978-1-59013-119-0 (hardcover: alk. paper) ISBN: 978-1-59013-142-8 (trade paperback: alk. paper) 1. Kydd, Thomas (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History, Naval—18th century—Fiction. 3. Seafaring life—Fiction. 4. Sailors—Fiction. I. Title. PR6119.T66T46 2006 823'.92--dc22

2006004000

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Printed in the United States of America

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THERE IS BUT ONE NELSON—

Lord St Vincent

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PROLOGUE

THE SOUND OF CARRIAGE WHEELS echoed loudly in the blackness of Downing Street. With a jangle of harness and the snorting of horses, the vehicle stopped outside No. 10 and footmen braved the rain to lower the step and hand down the occupants.

The Prime Minister, William Pitt, did not wait for the Speaker of the House of Commons, but Henry Addington knew his friend of old and smiled at his nervous vitality. "Quite dished 'em in the debate, William," he puffed, as he caught up and they mounted the stairs to the upper landing.